U.S. patent application number 13/161501 was filed with the patent office on 2012-12-20 for systems and methods for providing discount offers via an internet directory interface.
Invention is credited to Andrew H.B ZHOU, Dylan T. X ZHOU, Tiger ZHOU.
Application Number | 20120323658 13/161501 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 47354433 |
Filed Date | 2012-12-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120323658 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
ZHOU; Dylan T. X ; et
al. |
December 20, 2012 |
SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PROVIDING DISCOUNT OFFERS VIA AN INTERNET
DIRECTORY INTERFACE
Abstract
Embodiments of computer implemented systems and methods for
providing discount offers via an internet directory interface are
described. One example method includes receiving, from a user, via
a user interface, a request to search for one or more discount
offers associated with a product, the request being associated with
search criteria, facilitating the search for the one or more
discount offers through an integrated search engine based on the
search criteria, providing search results, the search results
including one or more discount offers for the one or more products,
receiving, from the user, a selection of a product from the search
results, the selection of the product including a product quantity,
and providing the user with a specific discount offer for the
product based on the selection. The method may further include
providing a payment functionality to process a transaction
associated with a purchase of the product with the specific
discount from a merchant associated with the product, the payment
functionality including one or more means of payment. The method
may further include sending voucher codes to the user and the
merchant.
Inventors: |
ZHOU; Dylan T. X; (San
Gabriel, CA) ; ZHOU; Andrew H.B; (Tiburon, CA)
; ZHOU; Tiger; (Tiburon, CA) |
Family ID: |
47354433 |
Appl. No.: |
13/161501 |
Filed: |
June 16, 2011 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
705/14.23 ;
705/14.39 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06Q 30/0239
20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
705/14.23 ;
705/14.39 |
International
Class: |
G06Q 30/00 20060101
G06Q030/00 |
Claims
1. A method for providing discount offers via an internet directory
interface, the method comprising: receiving, from a user, via a
user interface, a request to search for one or more discount offers
associated with a product, the request being associated with search
criteria; facilitating the search for the one or more discount
offers through an integrated search engine based on the search
criteria; providing search results, the search results including
one or more discount offers for the one or more products;
receiving, from the user, a selection of a product from the search
results, the selection of the product including a product quantity;
and based on the selection, providing the user with a specific
discount offer for the product.
2. The method of claim 1, further providing a payment functionality
to process a transaction associated with a purchase of the product
with the specific discount from a merchant associated with the
product, the payment functionality including one or more means of
payment.
3. The method of claim 2, further comprising sending voucher codes
to the user and the merchant.
4. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing an escrow to
hold funds until a delivery of the product is confirmed, the funds
being delivered to the merchant upon the confirmation.
5. The method of claim 2, further specify a processing time
associated with the transaction.
6. The method of claim 2, where the purchase is direct from the
merchant.
7. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing merchant
information associated with the merchant, the merchant information
including one or more of the following: a name, a location,
reputation, transaction history, and contact information.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the user selects a type of the
discount, the type including one or more of the following: a
wholesale discount, a local discount, a retail discount, and a
reward coupon.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling a comparison
between comparing values from various merchants.
10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing information
associated with the specific discount, the information including a
value, a product quantity, an image, a video, and a price per unit,
a countdown counter showing a time left to an expiration of the
specific discount, and payment information
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the price per unit depends on
the quantity of the product.
12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing a
subscription to daily discount offers.
13. A system for providing discount offers via an internet
directory interface, the system comprising: a communication module
to receive, from a user, via a user interface, a request to perform
a search for one or more discount offers associated with a product,
the request being associated with search criteria; a search module
to facilitate the search for the one or more discount offers based
on the search criteria and to provide search results, the search
results including one or more discount offers for the one or more
products, the communication module is further to receive from the
user, a selection of a product from the search results, the
selection of the product including a product quantity; and a
discount module to provide the user with a specific discount offer
for the product, based on the selection.
14. The system of claim 13, further including a payment module to
process a transaction associated with a purchase of the product
with the specific discount from a merchant associated with the
product, the payment functionality including one or more means of
payment.
15. The system of claim 14, further including a voucher module to
send voucher codes to the user and the merchant.
16. The system of claim 14, further including an escrow module to
providing an escrow to hold funds until a delivery of the product
is confirmed, the funds being delivered to the merchant upon the
confirmation.
17. The system of claim 14, further including a merchant
information module to provide information associated with the
merchant, the merchant information including one or more of the
following: a name, a location, reputation, transaction history, and
contact information.
18. The system of claim 13, further including a comparison module
to compare values between from various merchants.
19. The system of claim 13, further including a subscription module
to provide a subscription to daily discount offers.
20. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions, which when
executed by one or more processors, perform the following
operations: receive, from a user, via a user interface, a request
to search for one or more discount offers associated with a
product, the request being associated with search criteria;
facilitate the search for the one or more discount offers through
an integrated search engine based on the search criteria; provide
search results, the search results including one or more discount
offers for the one or more products; receive, from the user, a
selection of a product from the search results, the selection of
the product including a product quantity; and provide the user with
a specific discount offer for the product based on the selection.
Description
FIELD
[0001] This application relates generally to data processing, and
more specifically to systems and methods for providing discount
offers via an internet directory interface.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The rise of the Internet resulted in proliferation of online
coupons. An online coupon can be exchanged for a financial discount
or rebate when purchasing a product online or at a "brick and
mortar" store. Such coupons are widely distributed through the
Internet and mobile devices such as cell phones. In addition,
online coupons can also be targeted selectively to regional markets
in which price competition is great. Online retailers often refer
to coupons as voucher codes and discount vouchers. Online coupons
can provide for reduced cost or free shipping, a specific dollar or
percentage discount, or some other offer to encourage consumers to
purchase specific products or to purchase from specific retailers.
Because paper coupons would be difficult to redeem, typically
secret words or codes are distributed for consumers to type in at
checkout. Marketers can use different codes for different channels
our groups in order to distinguish response rates.
[0003] However, the existing solutions do not allow Internet coupon
distributors to provide wholesale, retail, local, and reward
coupons within a single internet directory interface in combination
with a search engine and the ability to compare and buy products
and services from various merchants.
SUMMARY
[0004] This summary is provided to introduce a selection of
concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in
the Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identify
key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter,
nor is it intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of
the claimed subject matter.
[0005] A method for providing discount offers via an internet
directory interface includes receiving, from a user, via a user
interface, a request to search for one or more discount offers
associated with a product, the request being associated with search
criteria, facilitating the search for the one or more discount
offers through an integrated search engine based on the search
criteria, providing search results, the search results including
one or more discount offers for the one or more products,
receiving, from the user, a selection of a product from the search
results, the selection of the product including a product quantity,
and based on the selection, providing the user with a specific
discount offer for the product.
[0006] The method may further provide a payment functionality to
process a transaction associated with a purchase of the product
with the specific discount from a merchant associated with the
product. The payment functionality including one or more means of
payment. The method may further include sending voucher codes to
the user and the merchant. The method may further include
comprising providing an escrow to hold funds until a delivery of
the product is confirmed, the funds being delivered to the merchant
upon the confirmation. The method may further specify specifying a
processing time associated with the transaction. The method may
further comprise providing merchant information associated with the
merchant. The merchant information may include a name, a location,
reputation, transaction history, and contact information.
[0007] The user may select a type of the discount, the type such as
a wholesale discount, a local discount, a retail discount, and a
reward coupon. The method may further enable a comparison between
comparing values from various merchants. The method may further
provide information associated with the specific discount. The
information may include a value, a product quantity, an image, a
video, or a price per unit, a countdown counter showing a time left
to an expiration of the specific discount, and payment information.
The price per unit may depend on the quantity of the product. The
method may further provide a subscription to daily discount
offers.
[0008] In further exemplary embodiments, modules, subsystems, or
devices can be adapted to perform the recited steps. Other features
and exemplary embodiments are described below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0009] Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not
limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which
like references indicate similar elements and in which:
[0010] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an architecture within
which systems and methods for providing discount offers via an
internet directory interface can be implemented, in accordance with
an example embodiment.
[0011] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a discount offers engine,
in accordance with an example embodiment.
[0012] FIG. 3 is a screenshot of an internet directory interface,
in accordance with an example embodiment.
[0013] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for providing
discount offers via an internet directory interface, in accordance
with an example embodiment.
[0014] FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic representation illustrating an
example machine in the form of a computer system within which a set
of instructions, for causing the machine to perform any one or more
of the methodologies discussed herein, may be executed.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0015] Systems and methods for providing discounts via an internet
directory interface may provide wholesale, retail, local, and
reward coupons within a single internet directory interface in
combination with a search engine and the ability to compare and buy
products and services from various merchants.
[0016] An example method for providing discounts via an internet
directory interface may facilitate a fast and convenient search for
various types of discounts such as wholesale, retail, local, and
reward coupons via an internet directory interface. Users,
depending on whether they are buyers or merchants may utilize
different versions of the interface. For example, buyers can
utilize the internet directory interface to search for products and
services. They can log into the interface, select the wholesale
coupon option, specify search criteria and obtain coupon offers
associated with wholesale products and services based on the search
criteria.
[0017] When buyers select specific products or services from the
search results, they are directed to a specific webpage having
information associated with the selected product or service. The
information may include a retail value, product quantity and the
price. The price per unit may depend on the quantity selected. For
example, higher quantity may result in lower price per unit. The
information may also include a countdown counter showing the time
left to complete the discounted transaction.
[0018] A buyer area within the webpage may show information related
to the buyer such as the identity and quantity of the goods and
services selected for purchase. The webpage may also provide
educational materials on how to search and select the products as
well as the information on how a merchant can be paid.
[0019] Once a transaction is finalized, the backend processor may
process the transaction and send voucher codes to the merchant and
the buyer who are the parties to the transaction. Methods for
providing retail, local, and reward coupons may be implemented
similar to the wholesale method described above.
[0020] FIG. 1 shows an architecture 100 within which systems and
methods for providing discount offers via an internet directory
interface can be implemented. The architecture 100 may include a
network 110, a merchant 120, client devices 130, a user 140, an
internet directory interface 150, and a discount offers engine 200.
The network 110 may include the Internet or any other network
capable of communicating data between devices. Suitable networks
may include or interface with any one or more of, for instance, a
local intranet, a PAN (Personal Area Network), a LAN (Local Area
Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), a MAN (Metropolitan Area
Network), a virtual private network (VPN), a storage area network
(SAN), a frame relay connection, an Advanced Intelligent Network
(AIN) connection, a synchronous optical network (SONET) connection,
a digital T1, T3, E1 or E3 line, Digital Data Service (DDS)
connection, DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) connection, an Ethernet
connection, an ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) line, a
dial-up port such as a V.90, V.34 or V.34bis analog modem
connection, a cable modem, an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode)
connection, or an FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface) or CDDI
(Copper Distributed Data Interface) connection. Furthermore,
communications may also include links to any of a variety of
wireless networks, including WAP (Wireless Application Protocol),
GPRS (General Packet Radio Service), GSM (Global System for Mobile
Communication), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) or TDMA (Time
Division Multiple Access), cellular phone networks, GPS (Global
Positioning System), CDPD (cellular digital packet data), RIM
(Research in Motion, Limited) duplex paging network, Bluetooth
radio, or an IEEE 802.11-based radio frequency network. The network
120 can further include or interface with any one or more of an
RS-232 serial connection, an IEEE-1394 (Firewire) connection, a
Fiber Channel connection, an IrDA (infrared) port, a SCSI (Small
Computer Systems Interface) connection, a USB (Universal Serial
Bus) connection or other wired or wireless, digital or analog
interface or connection, mesh or Digi.RTM. networking. The network
110 may be a network of data processing nodes that are
interconnected for the purpose of data communication.
[0021] The merchant 120 may represent a seller who is selling goods
or services online in real-time, without an intermediary service,
over the Internet. To facilitate commercial transaction, the
merchant 120 may have an online store. Online retailers may offer
various discounts referred to as coupons as coupon codes,
promotional codes, promotion codes, discount codes, key codes,
promo codes, surplus codes, portable codes, shopping codes, voucher
codes, reward codes, discount vouchers, or source codes. These
discounts can be wholesale, retail, or local. The discounts can be
used for example, to receive discounts in restaurants, hotels,
grocery stores, and retail shops.
[0022] These discounts may provide for reduced cost or free
shipping, a specific dollar or percentage discount, or some other
offer to encourage consumers to purchase specific products or to
purchase from specific retailers. Typically, voucher codes are
distributed for consumers to type in at checkout. According to the
systems and methods describe herein, online retailers may offer
special discounts to buyers buying in bulk. Thus, a buyer looking
for wholesale deals may be able to receive better discounts for
buying a greater quantity of the product.
[0023] The client devices 130, in some example embodiments, may
include a Graphical User Interface (GUI). In a typical GUI, instead
of offering only text menus or requiring typed commands, the system
presents graphical icons, visual indicators or special graphical
elements called widgets that may be utilized to allow the user 140
to interact with the internet directory interface 150. The client
devices 130 may be configured to utilize icons used in conjunction
with text, labels or text navigation to fully represent the
information and actions available to users.
[0024] The client devices 130 may include a mobile telephone 132, a
computer 134, a television (TV) set 136, and a personal digital
assistant (PDA) 138. The user 140, in some example embodiments, is
a person interacting with the internet directory interface 150 via
the client devices 130. In some other embodiments, the user 140 may
be represented by an automated process designed to simulate a
person. The user 140 may be a buyer using the internet directory
interface 150 to search for retail, wholesale, local, and reward
coupons. The internet directory interface 150, in some example
embodiments facilitate fast and efficient product search.
[0025] FIG. 2 illustrates a detailed block diagram of the discount
offers engine 200, in accordance with an example embodiment. The
discount offers engine 200 may include a communication module 202,
a search module 204, a discount module 206, a payment module 208, a
voucher module 210, an escrow module 212, a merchant information
module 214, a comparison module 216, and a subscription module
218.
[0026] Note that even though various modules of the discount offers
engine 200 shown together, the discount offers engine 200 may be
implemented as a web service, via a distributed architecture, or
within a cloud computing environment. The discounted offers engine
200 may be implemented with the context of wider electronic
commerce, commonly known as e-commerce. The e-commerce may consist
of the buying and selling of products or services over the network
110, for example, Internet and other computer networks. The
e-commerce is more than just buying and selling products online. It
may also include the entire online process of developing,
marketing, selling, delivering, servicing and paying for products
and services. Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce
where the buyer is buying directly from the seller's website
without an intermediary service. The sale and purchase transaction
is completed electronically and interactively in real-time.
[0027] The communication module 202 of the discount offers engine
200 may be configured to receive, from user 140 via the user
interface 150, a request to perform a search for one or more
discount offers associated with a product based on certain search
criteria. The search module 204 may be configured to find products
which are available for sale on the web and can be purchased with a
coupon. The search results may provide information such as product
pictures, pricing, and description. Thus, the search module 204 may
facilitate the products search based on specific search criteria
and to provide search results. The search results may include one
or more discount offers for the product.
[0028] The communication module 202 may be further configured to
receive, from the user, a selection of a product from the search
results, which may include a product quantity. The discounts
provide by the merchant may be based on the product quantity. The
discount module 206 may be configured to provide the user with a
specific discount offer for the product, based on the selection.
The discount offer may represent an electronic document that can be
exchanged for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a
product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of
consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in retail
stores as a part of sales promotions. They are often widely
distributed through the Internet and mobile devices such as cell
phones. In addition, coupons can also be targeted selectively to
regional markets in which price competition is great.
[0029] The payment module 208 may be configured to process a
transaction associated with a purchase of the product with the
specific discount. The payment functionality may include various
means of payment, which facilitates acceptance of electronic
payments for online transactions. E-commerce payment systems have
become increasingly popular due to the widespread use of the
internet-based shopping and banking. There are numerous payments
systems available for online merchants. These include the
traditional credit, debit and charge card but also new technologies
such as digital wallets, e-cash, mobile payment and e-checks.
Another form of payment system is allowing a 3rd party to complete
the online transaction for you. These companies are called Payment
Service Providers (PSP).
[0030] The voucher module 210 may be configured to send voucher
codes to the user and the merchant upon finalizing of a
transaction. A voucher can be entered when shopping online and the
relevant vouchers value can added to the order. A voucher can take
the form of a code. Many companies have opted to use voucher codes
lately.
[0031] The escrow module 212 may be configured to provide an escrow
to hold funds until a delivery of the product is confirmed, the
funds being delivered to the merchant upon the confirmation. The
escrow may include an arrangement made under contractual provisions
between the buyer and the merchant, whereby an independent trusted
third party (for example, discount offers engine operators)
receives and disburses money and/or documents for the buyer and the
merchant with the timing of such disbursement by the third party
dependent on the fulfillment of contractually-agreed conditions.
Thus, for example, the funds can be released to the merchant only
on the condition of the delivery of the product to the buyer.
[0032] The merchant information module 214 may be configured to
provide information associated with the merchant, which may include
a name, a location, reputation, transaction history, and contact
information. The comparison module 216 may be configured to compare
values between from various merchants. On the internet, a price
comparison service (also known as shopping comparison or price
engine) allows users to see different lists of prices for specific
products. Price comparison services typically do not sell products
themselves but the discount offers engine 200 does. The comparison
module 216 may collect data directly from merchants. Retailers,
wholesalers, and local merchants who want to list their products on
the website may supply their own lists of products and prices via
the merchant interface of the discount offers engine 200.
[0033] Instead of having the merchants provide their products and
prices, the comparison module 216 may crawl the web for prices.
This means the comparison module 216 may scans retail, wholesaler,
or local merchant web pages to retrieve the prices, instead of
relying on the merchants to supply them.
[0034] Yet another approach taken by the comparison module 216 may
include collecting data through crowdsourcing techniques. This
approach may allow the price comparison engine to collect data from
almost any source without the complexities of building a crawler or
the logistics of setting up data feeds at the expense of lower
coverage comprehensiveness. The discount offers engine may allow
visitors to contribute pricing data. The subscription module 218
may be configured to provide a subscription to daily discount
offers.
[0035] FIG. 3 is a screenshot of an internet directory interface
300, in accordance with an example embodiment. FIG. 4 shows a flow
chart 400 of a method for providing discount offers via an internet
directory interface, in accordance with an example embodiment. The
method 400 may be performed by processing logic that may comprise
hardware (e.g., dedicated logic, programmable logic, microcode,
etc.), software (such as run on a general-purpose computer system
or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. In one example
embodiment, the processing logic resides at the discount offers
engine 200, illustrated in FIG. 2. The method 400 may be performed
by the various modules discussed above with reference to FIG. 2.
Each of these modules may comprise processing logic.
[0036] As shown in FIG. 4, the method 400 may commence at operation
402, with the communication module 202 receiving, from the user
140, via the user interface 150, a request to search for one or
more discount offers associated with a product. The request may
include search criteria. For example, the user may select a type of
the discount including whether the discount is a wholesale
discount, a local discount, a retail discount, and a reward
coupon.
[0037] At operation 404, the search module 204 may facilitate the
search for the discount offers through an integrated search engine
based on the search criteria provided by the user 140. At operation
406, the search module 204 may provide search results, which may
include discount offers for the products being search. The search
results may include a value, a product quantity, an image, a video,
and a price per unit, a countdown counter showing a time left to an
expiration of the specific discount, and payment information. The
price per unit may depend on the quantity of the product.
[0038] At operation 408, the communication module 202 may receive,
from the user 140, a selection of a product from the search
results. The selection may include a product quantity. Based on
this selection the voucher module 210 may provide the user with a
specific discount offer for the product.
[0039] FIG. 5 shows a diagrammatic representation of a machine in
the example electronic form of a computer system 500, within which
a set of instructions for causing the machine to perform any one or
more of the methodologies discussed herein may be executed. In
various example embodiments, the machine operates as a standalone
device or may be connected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In
a networked deployment, the machine may operate in the capacity of
a server or a client machine in a server-client network
environment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or
distributed) network environment. The machine may be a personal
computer (PC), a tablet PC, a set-top box (STB), a Personal Digital
Assistant (PDA), a cellular telephone, a portable music player
(e.g., a portable hard drive audio device such as an Moving Picture
Experts Group Audio Layer 3 (MP3) player), a web appliance, a
network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of
executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that
specify actions to be taken by that machine. Further, while only a
single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be
taken to include any collection of machines that individually or
jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform
any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
[0040] The example computer system 500 includes a processor or
multiple processors 502 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a
graphics processing unit (GPU), or both), a main memory 504 and a
static memory 506, which communicate with each other via a bus 508.
The computer system 500 may further include a video display unit
510 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a cathode ray tube
(CRT)). The computer system 500 may also include an alphanumeric
input device 512 (e.g., a keyboard), a cursor control device 514
(e.g., a mouse), a disk drive unit 516, a signal generation device
518 (e.g., a speaker) and a network interface device 520.
[0041] The disk drive unit 516 includes a computer-readable medium
522, on which is stored one or more sets of instructions and data
structures (e.g., instructions 524) embodying or utilized by any
one or more of the methodologies or functions described herein. The
instructions 524 may also reside, completely or at least partially,
within the main memory 504 and/or within the processors 502 during
execution thereof by the computer system 500. The main memory 504
and the processors 502 may also constitute machine-readable
media.
[0042] The instructions 524 may further be transmitted or received
over a network 526 via the network interface device 520 utilizing
any one of a number of well-known transfer protocols (e.g., Hyper
Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)).
[0043] While the computer-readable medium 522 is shown in an
example embodiment to be a single medium, the term
"computer-readable medium" should be taken to include a single
medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed
database and/or associated caches and servers) that store the one
or more sets of instructions. The term "computer-readable medium"
shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of
storing, encoding, or carrying a set of instructions for execution
by the machine and that causes the machine to perform any one or
more of the methodologies of the present application, or that is
capable of storing, encoding, or carrying data structures utilized
by or associated with such a set of instructions. The term
"computer-readable medium" shall accordingly be taken to include,
but not be limited to, solid-state memories, optical and magnetic
media, and carrier wave signals. Such media may also include,
without limitation, hard disks, floppy disks, flash memory cards,
digital video disks, random access memory (RAMs), read only memory
(ROMs), and the like.
[0044] The example embodiments described herein may be implemented
in an operating environment comprising software installed on a
computer, in hardware, or in a combination of software and
hardware.
[0045] Thus, a system and method for or providing discounts via an
internet directory interface have been described. Although
embodiments have been described with reference to specific example
embodiments, it will be evident that various modifications and
changes may be made to these embodiments without departing from the
broader spirit and scope of the system and method described herein.
Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in
an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
* * * * *